Speaking before his own trial for perverting course of public justice, Lew Mon-hung says alleged actions by mainland police ‘trample upon Basic Law’
CHRIS.LAU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Monday, 04 January, 2016, 10:40am
UPDATED : Monday, 04 January, 2016, 10:54am
Businessman Lew Mon-hung (centre) speaking to reporters as he arrived at court for his trial. Photo: Sam Tsang
Controversial businessman Lew Mon-hung, who is accused of perverting the course of public justice, weighed in on the saga unfolding at a Causeway Bay bookstore before his trial today.
Arriving the District Court in Wan Chai at about 9am, Lew told reporters that alleged detainment by mainland law enforcement agents of Lee Bo, the boss of a Causeway Bay bookstore that published texts critical of mainland China, was damaging the “one country, two systems” principle and “threatening the fearless freedom that belongs to Hong Kong”.
READ MORE: Hong Kong demands answers from mainland Chinese police after five booksellers go missing
“Friends of the media, I shall take this opportunity to say something related to the rule of law in Hong Kong today,” he said this morning as soon as he arrived at the court.
“Since Hong Kong is governed by one country two systems according to the Basic Law, the publications by the bookstore were by no means banned political literature of any sort.”
The books, he said, were protected by the law, and if law enforcement officers crossed border to make arrests, it would be “political kidnapping”.
“This is directly and seriously in breach of ‘one country, two systems’ and tramples upon Basic Law,” he summed up, before heading to the court.
READ MORE: Lew Mon-hung to stand trial next year on charges he tried to influence graft probe
Lew, 65, faces one count of committing acts “tending or intended to pervert the course of public justice”. The former deputy chairman and executive director of Pearl Oriental Oil sent two emails and a letter to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and the then-head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Simon Peh Yun-lu, trying to get them to stop an ICAC investigation against him or others. The alleged event took place in January 2013.
He stands trial before judge Frankie Yiu Fun-chee today.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1897863/disappearance-bookstore-owner-goes-against-one-country-two
